Lewers still on mute 24 hours after election result

(Updated - Mr Lewers made a social media post three hour after this story was published - pasted below.)

Outgoing QLDC Mayor, Glyn Lewers, has failed to make a public statement after yesterday’s election result, despite repeated attempts by Crux to contact him.

It is customary for an unsuccessful elected official to comment through the media on completion of the vote count.

Crux contacted Mr Lewers by phone on Friday, arranging to call him on Saturday as soon as the results were announced.

However, Mr Lewers has failed to answer all calls, text messages, and emails from Crux requesting his reaction, or comments, on the result.

Mr Lewers lost the mayoralty after one term to John Glover who won 814 more votes to successfully take the mayoralty for the next term.

Two other unsuccessful candidates, Nik Kiddle and Darren Rewi, have given statements to Crux on learning they were unsuccessful.

With 85 per cent of votes counted by 1.00pm yesterday the results for QLDC’s mayoral race are;

John Glover received 3,449 votes ahead of candidates Glyn Lewers (2,635 votes), Nik Kiddle (1,629 votes), Darren Rewi (1,236 votes), Al Angus (712 votes), and Daniel Shand (93 votes).

The unsuccessful candidates who stood for Council are:

Arrowtown-Kawarau Ward - Lisa Guy, who has spent one term on Council, and Tim Manning.

In the Queenstown-Whakatipu Ward the unsuccessful candidates are Aaron Cowie, Renee Smith, and Craig Ferguson.

There are four unsuccessful candidates in the Wānaka-Upper Clutha Ward, three of them losing their recent seat on Council.

The losing Wānaka incumbents are Barry Bruce, Lyal Cocks and Cody Tucker.

The other unsuccessful Wānaka candidates are Craig Gasson and Thorsk G. Westphal.

The final, confirmed, results should be available this Thursday 16^th October.

** Around three hours after this story was published, Mr Lewers made the following post on social media.

"Being able to serve our district as mayor for the past three years has been immensely rewarding and I am proud to have achieved a lot with a diverse team of people.

Local government is challenging and complex, and I wish the best for everyone who has been elected for the road ahead.

To those who were not re-elected, thank you for your dedication to our community. It has been a pleasure working with you and I look forward to catching up with you in due course.

Thank you to everyone who has believed in me throughout my years of community service, and to those that voted for me this election. I am truly appreciative of the strong relationships and connections made in every corner of our district.

I remain a passionate advocate for our region and I look forward to new challenges and opportunities."